Kalu Joseph Ude, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flashride and Fintag, has been named the ‘Emerging Tech Start-Up Founder/CEO of the Year’ at the 11th Nigeria Technology Awards (NiTA) 2025, one of Nigeria’s most respected platforms for celebrating technology excellence and innovation.
The award was presented on 17th September 2025, following a rigorous nomination and entry process in which Kalu’s candidacy was independently screened and voted upon by the Awards’ Judging Panel and Advisory Board, an affirmation that carries significant weight within Nigeria’s technology community.
The recognition comes on the back of Kalu’s remarkable achievements as the driving force behind Flashride, the smart mobility platform he founded and launched on 29th August 2021. Since its inception, Flashride has grown into a nationally recognised platform serving over 20,000 registered active users, empowering more than 2,000 drivers, and creating over 4,000 jobs for drivers, couriers, and staff across the country.
What set Flashride apart from every other smart mobility platform in Nigeria is Kalu’s founding conviction that technology must work for everyone, including the millions of Nigerians in rural and low-connectivity communities that the rest of the industry had consistently overlooked. That conviction gave rise to Flashride’s proprietary offline wallet, a novel innovation that enables users to make payments and complete transactions even without internet connectivity; a solution that, to date, no other smart mobility company in Nigeria has replicated.
The Nigeria Technology Awards described the recognition as a testament to Kalu’s exceptional contributions to the growth of Nigeria’s technology ecosystem, reflecting his innovative drive, professional excellence, and dedication to continuous development; qualities that continue to shape and influence the transformation of the Nigeria Tech Industry.
Beyond Flashride, Kalu is also the founder of Fintag, his fintech platform launched in October 2022 under his parent company Source IT, and the creator of ‘Learn About Tech with Kalu’ a youth development initiative through which he has trained over 300 young Nigerians across the country entirely free of charge. This latest honour adds to the Men in Fintech Leadership Award he exclusively received at the Titan of Tech Awards in August 2024, further cementing his place as one of Nigeria’s most impactful and consistently recognised emerging technology leaders.